Toggle sidebar

Kings @ World Championships in Czech Rep (?)

What happend to Moller? I remember him, Simmonds, and Doughty all playing well for us back in 2009? Then out of nowhere he was gone.
 
Moller joined the KHL this season – one of the perennial top Russian clubs, Ak Bars Kazan, and had a pretty successful season there. 32 points in 54 games, and 12 points (9 goals) in 20 play-off games. Kazan went all the way to the Gagarin Cup finals and only lost to Kovalchuk's SKA St. Petersburg there. I'm also pretty sure Moller is earning more money in Kazan than he would as a third- or fourth-liner in the NHL.
 
Slovakia only defeated Denmark 4-3 in the shootout despite outshooting them 43-19 in the game. Gáborík failed to convert his shootout attempt twice. :amazed: The game-winning shootout goal was scored by Columbus' Marko Daňo who got moved to the 1st line along with Gáborík and Kopecký starting from the 3rd period. Gáborík played 20:54 minutes, 3 shots on goal, +/-0. Based on Slovakia fans voting after the game, Gáborík is one of the scapegoats for the point loss, and is among the 3 worst-rated Slovakia players for the game. Team captain Kopecký is getting most of the blame. Slovakia's best players in this game was clearly the 4th line, composed exclusively from Euro leagues players (not even KHL). (Although one of them is the former Kings tryout Dravecký and another the Sharks-drafted Viedenský.)
 
Slovenia loses 2-4 to Belarus featuring the Kostitsyn brothers but no Grabovski in the tourney (injury). Kopi got an assist in 21:06 minutes of play, -1, one shot on goal. US vs. Norway game with Lewis about to start in a few minutes.
 
Faterson said:
Slovakia only defeated Denmark 4-3 in the shootout despite outshooting them 43-19 in the game. Gáborík failed to convert his shootout attempt twice. :amazed: The game-winning shootout goal was scored by Columbus' Marko Daňo who got moved to the 1st line along with Gáborík and Kopecký starting from the 3rd period. Gáborík played 20:54 minutes, 3 shots on goal, +/-0. Based on Slovakia fans voting after the game, Gáborík is one of the scapegoats for the point loss, and is among the 3 worst-rated Slovakia players for the game. Team captain Kopecký is getting most of the blame. Slovakia's best players in this game was clearly the 4th line, composed exclusively from Euro leagues players (not even KHL). (Although one of them is the former Kings tryout Dravecký and another the Sharks-drafted Viedenský.)
Click to expand...

Well, everyone expecs Gáborík to score 3 goals a game or something :facepalm:

He wasn't terrible today, but we all know that he can do better. I think that it showed today that him not playing any exhibition games was a mistake as Vujtek and co. would have realised that they need to put him together with someone like Daňo. But that's not just on Gáborík, that's also on the coaches because we as the fans and complete ameteurs knew it even before the puck dropped.:help:

I feel kinda sorry for Tomáš Kopecký, he just doesn't belong into the top 6 at the moment. I'd rather have Daňo and Viedenský playing the centers on the top two lines, have Kopecký play wing on the bottom 6 and play PK, where he can actually shine.

Instead Vujtek and co. keep pushing him into a position that everyone has to know he's just not good enough for (I certainly hope that he isn't in this position because Gáborík asked to play with him, no player should be deciding stuff like this, we have seen how that can end with the whole Zedník affair in 2011). The fans make him the scapegoat, but in ruth their fingers should be pointing at the coaches who put him into this position, it's not the only bad decision they have made over the last two years. And now Vujtek says we will likely start more deffensively against Belarus.:facepalm: Like really? With the power we have in offense and the god awful deffense? We have to play offensively with this team and just score more goals. Vujtek's D tactic made sense in 2012 with Chára and Sekera playing 25 minutes a game, it won't work with this team.
 
slovakiasnextone said:
Vujtek and co. would have realised that they need to put him together with someone like Daňo.
Click to expand...

Well, at least it "only" took them 2 periods to realize that. A top line of Tatar – Daňo – Gáborík could be a good 1st line starting from tomorrow.

slovakiasnextone said:
And now Vujtek says we will likely start more deffensively against Belarus.:facepalm:
Click to expand...

Slovakia's biggest issue today was likely defence and more particularly, the awful penalty killing. There's hardly anything Gáborík can do about those things. Putting a rookie on the top defensive pairing didn't help things, either. That was another line-up mistake the coaches corrected in the course of the game, fortunately.
 
Lewis now also has a goal at the Worlds, scoring from the crease after Vesey's shot to equalize 1-1 against Norway. US leads 2-1 entering the final period.
 
Faterson said:
Well, at least it "only" took them 2 periods to realize that. A top line of Tatar – Daňo – Gáborík could be a good 1st line starting from tomorrow.



Slovakia's biggest issue today was likely defence and more particularly, the awful penalty killing. There's hardly anything Gáborík can do about those things. Putting a rookie on the top defensive pairing didn't help things, either. That was another line-up mistake the coaches corrected in the course of the game, fortunately.
Click to expand...

Tbh, I don't like that line,too much offense, someone needs to deffend on that line and we know it won't be our D. I think the only way we see all of them on the ice is on the PP, where we play with 4 forwards.

Yes, though I think our biggest problem was that we tried to begin the game deffensively, the same thing that Vujtek wants to do again tomorrow. :help: I think we would have been alright with a rookie on the first pairing if it was the rookie that was actually supposed to be here (Jaroš). Those two are just some of the terrible decisions they have made. There was the whole theatre with Ružička, I don't even like the guy, but what they did to him was terrible. And now even Reway says that he feels like he could have played despite the illness. And if you combine it with all the quotes Vujtek has ever made about him, it does seem like Vujtek was just looking for the opportunity to kick him off the team. I mean Reway is a strange fella, we all know that but as the u20 NT coach Bokroš has said, yes, he does live in his own little world, but if you know to handle him, he's one hell of a player for you. Bokroš has coached him at 4 different Worlds on the U18/U20 NTs and says he never had a problem with him. Vujtek had a problem with him in every single tournament and made some terrible quotes about him to the media considering that he was talking about a 19-20 year old boy.
 
Coach Vůjtek needs to retire, which is exactly what he's doing following this tourney, so we just need to put these 2 weeks behind us with the best result possible. I wish the situation with Réway were still reversible, but it doesn't look like it is. The coach apparently doesn't wish to have Réway on the team, regardless of his hockey skills, due to "personality issues". :shakehead
 
Faterson said:
Coach Vůjtek needs to retire, which is exactly what he's doing following this tourney, so we just need to put these 2 weeks behind us with the best result possible. I wish the situation with Réway were still reversible, but it doesn't look like it is. The coach apparently doesn't wish to have Réway on the team, regardless of his hockey skills, due to "personality issues". :shakehead
Click to expand...

That's true. But I'm scared whom they'll pick next. I want a coach who wouldn't be scared to take the likes of Jaroš, Cehlárik or Reway to the Worlds rather than some of the useless Euro players. The way Vujtek favours players who were on the 2012 WC team is ridiculous. Someone should already tell him that that was 3 freaking years ago. And preferably someone with a winning mentality.

I still maintain that one of the reasons why we barely missed the QFs was that Vujtek had absolutely no trust in the team, after the quotes like "this is a team built out of despair", "we're gonna play for relegation" he totally threw them under the bus, while they actually played (and even finished) better than the experienced Slovak teams of the years 2008-2011 underr Å upler/Filc/Hanlon. I really hope that if Lintner and co. win in the elections, we want go back to Filc again.
 
slovakiasnextone said:
I'm scared whom they'll pick next.
Click to expand...


As you say, it depends on who's going to get elected President of Hockey Slovakia next month. If it's yet another continuation of the old (ex-)Communist guard, heaven help us. :amazed:

Game day over in Europe. (Hah: today's game day in Europe ended later than in the NHL with the only matinee play-off matchup in New York!)

Kings in action tomorrow Sunday: Kopitar against Russia, Toffoli, Muzzin (and Jones likely on the bench) against Germany, and Gáborík against Belarus.
 
Trevor Lewis has to be the hardest working NHL player of his generation. The guy just gives you, everything he has, every single shift.
 
damacles1156 said:
Trevor Lewis has to be the hardest working NHL player of his generation. The guy just gives you, everything he has, every single shift.
Click to expand...

I just wished it resulted in more goals. Today was vintage Lewis, alone in front of the net, shoots it into the goalies chest, then shoots the rebound into the pads.
 
kingsfan28 said:
I just wished it resulted in more goals. Today was vintage Lewis, alone in front of the net, shoots it into the goalies chest, then shoots the rebound into the pads.
Click to expand...

Lewis actually got that rebound over the pad. But in today's hockey, goalies are taught to stack the glove hand on top of the pad.

It was a very good reaction save.
 
kingsfan28 said:
Today was vintage Lewis
Click to expand...


You didn't mean that as a compliment, but actually, Lewis led the US team along with Faulk and Krug with a +2 in this game. Also, his ice-time (16:54) was the fourth-highest from among US forwards (following Bonino, Nelson and Eichel), so he's definitely among the leaders of this US team, and not just a token assistant captain. Will be interesting to see him go against Kopitar, Gáborík and Malkin, Kovalchuk later on.

Malkin will play his first game at this year's Worlds tomorrow Sunday against Kopitar's Slovenia. (Datsyuk wanted to join the team, but Detroit doctors said no.)
 
Canada annihilates Germany 10-0. Martin Jones gets a shutout (17 saves). Toffoli got an assist and was +2 in 11:39 minutes played. Muzzin also got an assist and led all of Team Canada in ice-time, 21:27, and he was +3. Hall got a hattrick and Duchene had a 4-point game. Giroux and Wiercioch were both +4.

Slovakia wins another game in OT, against Belarus. Gáborík failed to convert his third straight penalty-shot attempt in 2 games now, this time in regulation. After 2 games, Gáborík has 0 goals, 0 assists, is +/- 0, has 7 shots on goal and 4 penalty minutes. Slovakia fans voted Gáborík Slovakia's worst player of Sunday's game – but that has little to do with reality; it's more due to disappointment.

Next up: Kopitar versus Gáborík on Tuesday. :yo:
 
damacles1156 said:
Trevor Lewis has to be the hardest working NHL player of his generation. The guy just gives you, everything he has, every single shift.
Click to expand...

This is exactly my opinion of him. He may not have any of the natural 'talent' of many other players, doesn't have the greatest hands, but if hes on the ice, he gives 110% every single shift. Its the reason hes one of my favorite players.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Top Bottom